The March Covid19 epidemic outbreak in Shanghai compelled officials to declare a mandatory quarantine, confining 25 million citizens to their homes. People share their situation with the world via the Internet and NFTs.
Break free from the confines
The extraordinarily strict lockdown prohibited residents from leaving their houses for weeks while the virus infected hundreds of thousands of people.
Aside from the increase of diseases, the lockdown prohibited individuals from receiving food and medical treatment, as well as imposed additional austerities
Citizens with serious limitations go online to speak out and find solidarity. The Chinese government is deliberately censoring material that depicts the true situation in the quarantined city.
Due to such restrictions, Shanghai citizens find a solution in nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which, when minted, appear on the blockchain, the information on which remains intact and is not susceptible to governmental censorship.
Reach the world through NFTs
On April 22, a video titled Voices of April was released on YouTube, including voiceovers of Shanghai citizens’ experiences during the lockdown. It was minted into an NFT and placed on OpenSea shortly after it was released on YouTube.
According to a Shanghai-based programmer’s response to Reuters, the preservation of the recording, which officials attempted to remove, is part of a “people’s rebellion.”
As of Wednesday, the OpenSea marketplace had almost 2,300 things relating to the video. Furthermore, hundreds of NFTs relating to the Shanghai shutdown have subsequently emerged. This contains more voiceover recordings purporting to be from within isolation camps, as well as digital artwork representing life under lockdown.
Another Twitter user from Shanghai posted his NFT creation of a screenshot of the Shanghai COVID map from late April.
The NFT’s potential is plainly seen in the case in Shanghai. In this example, the technology enables you to protect digital works and materials against censorship.
China’s position on crypto
The Chinese government has taken a harsh line against digital assets, prohibiting their trade within the country and requiring Bitcoin (BTC) miners to cease operations. However, the state’s attitude to the NFT is not as negative as toward digital currencies.
Though it has prohibited the use of foreign cryptocurrencies, the nation still regards the underlying technology as valuable. The government’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), the e-yuan, is now undergoing real-world testing around the country. Residents in three cities can pay their taxes with the e-yuan. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been said to be considering blockchain and Web3 technology for centralized development.
